Bin lorry driver Scott Hamilton jailed for pensioner's death

A bin lorry driver has been jailed for a year for causing the death of an 80-year-old wheelchair user.

Scott Hamilton reversed a Stirling Council recycling lorry into an electric wheelchair used by Peter Wills near Dunblane in December 2014.

Mr Wills later died from his injuries.

Hamilton had earlier pleaded guilty at the High Court in Stirling to causing death by careless driving by failing to check it was clear behind him.

He was also banned from driving for a year.

Judge Lord Ericht told Hamilton that only a custodial sentence was appropriate.

The judge said: "By your actions, you have caused his death, and the end of a marriage which his widow said was 'paradise'.

"That is something you'll have to live with for the rest of your life."

Investigators found furrows on the tarmac which indicated the wheelchair had been pushed backwards for three-quarters of a metre, before it was pushed over and crushed.

Advocate depute Jane Farquharson said Hamilton had signed off training documents only nine months earlier which advised council drivers to "reduce reversing manoeuvres wherever possible, only reverse when safe to do so, and exercise extreme caution".

Hamilton's lawyer, solicitor-advocate George Pollock, said his client's actions had been "the antithesis of aggressive driving", and he had been trying to accommodate the driver coming the other way.

He said: "It was a mistake made while trying to be polite."

He said Hamilton, a first offender and carer for his elderly mother, had lost his job as a result..

The court was told paramedics found Mr Wills unconscious and with no pulse.

Doctors arrived by police helicopter, and he was pronounced dead.

Hamilton was crying and saying: "I didn't see him, I didn't see him".

Speaking after Hamilton's guilty plea, Virginia Wills said her 50-year marriage to Mr Wills, at one time Russian examiner for all Scottish schools, had been "paradise".

She said: "I don't really care what happens to the driver, to be honest.

"But the other day one of my children said they saw a bin lorry with a sign on the back saying 'we always check before reversing'.

"They thought that had gone on the backs of the lorries soon after Peter's death.

"We'd like to think that what happened to him has made people, and the council, more careful.

"We'd like to think that by his death, perhaps, the death of a child, or a cyclist, in the future might be prevented."

A Stirling Council spokesperson said: "This was a tragic situation and our thoughts have been, and remain with, Mr Wills' family and friends.

"We have robust health and safety policies in place for our refuse vehicles and all of our drivers receive training for this and are expected to fully comply with them.

"Our vehicles have reversing sensors and comply with the recommendations made following the fatal accident inquiry into the Glasgow bin lorry incident.

"We are specifying that the new refuse collection vehicles for Stirling Council have camera recorders fitted."